


Hunter of the Dark

by bookwormally



Series: VanVen Week 2019 [3]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: M/M, Post-Canon, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, VanVen Week (Kingdom Hearts), Vanitas Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-18 02:55:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21920662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookwormally/pseuds/bookwormally
Summary: Vanitas's mask hid his face, but what is it like to look through it?Day 3 of VanVen Week 2019: Innocence | Mask | Reverse
Relationships: Vanitas/Ventus (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: VanVen Week 2019 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1576693
Comments: 14
Kudos: 57





	Hunter of the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> I'm getting lazy with summaries, but I'm very much enjoying picking the titles. Enjoy some post-canon fluff!

~~Innocence~~ **| Mask |** ~~Reverse~~

The metal is cold to the touch despite the sunshine it was just resting in. Ven twists it back and forth in his hands, studying the inside that he’s never seen. The metal jaw frame he traces with a finger, feeling the small catches that latch it around someone’s head. The bulk of the mask, the bubble of dark glass, catches the sunlight and reflects it onto Ven’s face. He rubs his fingers over it and then turns, pulling it out of the direct sunlight. “So, you were born wearing this thing?”

Vanitas is sprawled on his bed, flipping through who knows what on Ven’s phone, and nods without looking. “Yep, the whole outfit.”

“I thought it was all darkness…”

“It was.”

“But this is still here.” Ven shakes the mask a little. “You could just take it off.”

Vanitas looks over the phone, eyes still shockingly red since his reformation. He rolls them at Ventus. “I could also take off the suit.”

Ven sticks his tongue out. “Yeah, but they just kinda...poofed away after a while.” He lifts the mask and thunks it against his desk chair. “This is solid.”

“Maybe it’s so I can shove your stupid head in it when you’re annoying me.” Vanitas goes back to whatever he’s doing, typing rapidly. “Don’t do that.”

He almost smacks it again to be obnoxious, but he doesn’t actually want to wind Vanitas up right now. Maybe it’s important to him and that’s why it’s still here. Ven holds it in front of him, facing out. “How did you make the glass melt like that? Was that because I beat you?”

Vanitas half-frowns. “The glass is solidified darkness. I did that.”

“To be dramatic.” 

“To-. Shut up.” Vanitas throws a pillow at him. “It’s not like you  _ knew _ whose face I had. I was breaking down anyway.” 

Grinning, Ven lifts the mask up, undoes the latches, and then puts it on. It’s not made for him; he can feel how it presses his hair down and doesn’t sit right against his jaw. The glass is dark, abruptly so. Ven looks around, holding the mask in place, and takes in the strangeness of his room seen this way.

The colors are very muted, practically all shadows of themselves. His vision is warped at the edges thanks to the curve of the glass and Ven feels like he’s been forced into a tunnel. Movement, however, is sharp and he sees Vanitas stand quickly off the bed. Ven starts to pull it up, but Vanitas reaches a hand out and pushes it back down. His tone of voice is difficult to decipher as he asks, “What are you doing?”

“I wanted to see what things looked like. What you saw.” Ven grabs Vanitas’s wrist. “What are  _ you _ doing?”

“Looking.” Vanitas is right in front of him and even his pale skin has a strange cast through the glass; his eyes are darker too. Ven leans forward, but Vanitas’s hand keeps him from bumping the mask to his forehead. He can see Vanitas’s eyes roam over him and then his hand withdraws. “It’s not the same as when I wore it.”

“Why not?”

Vanitas circles around behind him and leans close. His voice is much quieter now. “Close your eyes.” Ven does, ignoring the shiver over his skin at the odd closeness. “I never had just my senses. I could reach out and use other eyes, feel what they felt.” Hands settle on Ven’s shoulders and squeeze. “I was always splitting out of my skin. It wasn’t a way to limit me, it was a way to make me feel contained, controlled.”

The darkness inside and under his eyelids is absolute. Ven exhales and imagines seeing through those red eyes, a hundred different views. To see it and feel it, see the weapons and magic coming… “That’s how you kept watch?”

“Yes.” Vanitas hands move up and pop the mask off his head. “That and you weren’t exactly subtle.”

Ven squints at the sudden brightness and turns so they’re facing each other again. Vanitas has the mask dangling from one hand, unreadable gaze on Ven. Ven reaches out and takes it back, holding it between them. “Can you still do it?”

Vanitas shrugs. “Once in a while. It gives me a headache now.” He frowns, frustrated with changes that limit him. “They don’t get all sensitive to the damn sunlight though.” They’d thought it was Vanitas’s natural darkness that made it hard for him to be in direct sunlight, but no, his new eyes are just more sensitive than expected.

The mask is still cool to the touch despite all the handling. Ven pulls it closer, holding it to his chest. “Mmm, better not be spying on me with any Unversed.”

“I don’t need to. You’re even easier to track down now.”

Ven grins and lifts the mask back onto the shelf he took it from. Vanitas watches, squinting as the sunlight bounces back off the glass. Before he can complain, Ven grabs his hand, intertwining their fingers. “Good. I don’t want you to get lost.” It could have been a joke, light and teasing, but it comes out with more sincerity than he meant for it to. He squeezes Vanitas’s hand tightly, refusing to back down.

Vanitas looks at him slowly. “...Yeah, I don’t either. Even if everything’s too damn bright.” He leans in and bumps their foreheads together. “Like your stupid smile is  _ blinding _ .”

Of course it makes him grin. Ven pokes Vanitas with his free hand. “Maybe you need sunglasses then, because I’m not going to stop.”

“Good.” Vanitas closes the gap, kissing him warmly. This time, when Ven closes his eyes, the dark feels full of warm colors. 

He bumps their foreheads together when they break apart. It’s warm here, even out of the sunlight pouring through his window.  _ Their _ room, even if Vanitas has his own for when he needs it. It was always Ven’s home, but it feels more right with the two of them in it. Vanitas’s eyes are bright up close and Ven squints at him. 

“What,” Vanitas asks, used to the inspection.

The colors are so  _ bright _ in the world, so brilliant and beautiful, and seeing that film settle over all of them… Ven pokes one of Vanitas’s freckles, just under his eye. “Do you think you’ll need it again?”

Vanitas blinks and doesn’t turn to look at the mask. “No,” he says. “I have better things now.”

Ventus smiles at him, another blinding one, and then tugs at Vanitas’s hand. The worlds out there are so bright and beautiful and he wants to go see them again. They can start with a hike up the mountain. 

The mask stays on the shelf, the glass reflecting colors across the wall.


End file.
